The former head of the State Chancellery and Environment Minister Marcel Huber is valued across all parties for his down-to-earth attitude, his modest demeanor and his great hard work. The regret was all the greater when the CSU politician from the Upper Bavarian district of Mühldorf withdrew from state politics almost exactly two years ago for family reasons and gave up his state parliament mandate. Now Huber is getting back into politics. In times when farmers are sometimes fighting angrily for more recognition and appreciation of their work, the 66-year-old veterinarian has taken over the leadership of the new “Practitioners’ Council on the future EU agricultural policy and for a leaner bureaucracy”.
The committee with 30 representatives from farmers’, environmental and forest owners’ associations was appointed by Agriculture Minister Michaela Kaniber (CSU). The goals that she set for Huber couldn’t be higher: The Practitioners’ Council should submit proposals for a new EU agricultural policy from 2028 and the purification of the almost countless requirements for agriculture. “Agricultural policy must again be made with the practitioners, not against them,” said Kaniber at the start on Tuesday. It is also important to her that “our operations managers have more time for their actual work in the stable and in the field instead of sitting at their desks.”
Now one can argue about whether Kaniber isn’t expecting a bit much from Huber and the new committee. After all, it’s not just Bavaria that has its expectations of EU agricultural policy. The 27 EU member states and the 15 other federal states also have them. What is beyond doubt, however, is that it makes sense for farmers, environmentalists and other relevant organizations to work together to look for ways to ensure a good future for Bavarian agriculture – despite all the disputes about proper animal husbandry, the use of chemical plant protection, the death of farms and the like .
It is also certain that Huber is the right man to head such a council of practitioners. And not just because he “worked as a veterinarian for cattle and pigs for half his professional life” (Huber) and therefore knows very well how life and work works on farms. But because he is a patient listener as well as a determined presenter. Of course, Huber and his council of practitioners don’t have much time for their suggestions. Kaniber expects the first results by the European elections in June.